


Five Misunderstandings and One Time That Proved Them Right

by mae-mil (maevemil)



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Lonely!Martin, M/M, Mistaken for Being in a Relationship, Pining, Taken From Tumblr, entirely fluff until chapter 5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-13 15:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18034205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maevemil/pseuds/mae-mil
Summary: Plot idea taken from this post: http://somuchbetterthanthat.tumblr.com/post/182561932102/other-potential-scenario-that-wont-leave-my and the notes on it.(Hope it lives up to the great idea.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RavenXavier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenXavier/gifts).



> Plot idea taken from this post: http://somuchbetterthanthat.tumblr.com/post/182561932102/other-potential-scenario-that-wont-leave-my and the notes on it.
> 
> (Hope it lives up to the great idea.)

“I sent Sasha to research further into this statement, and the small amount of information she was able to find seem to confirm my suspicions that this “haunting” is solely a combination of an irrationally large fear of spiders, sleep deprivation and grief. Monique Howell’s sister Janet has not been sending her messages through spiders from beyond the grave and hopefully her family will be able to convince her of this” Jon sighs. “Statement ends.”

Jon turned off the recording, and took a deep breath. The statement he'd been recording was full of holes, had recorded to his computer, and seemed in no way related to any books (Leitners or not), but it _had_ been mainly about spiders, and he was on edge.

He didn't have anymore statements to record, and, looking at the time, he realized that it was probably a good idea to eat something before he recorded the next one.

So out into the rest of the archives he went. Of course, he should have realized that taking a break was an awful idea, and just kept working, because, almost as soon as he left his office, as if he was cursed, he noticed what see, (at least in the moment) like an unnaturally large spider sitting on one of the shelves of documents in the archives.

A horrible combination of his own irrational fear of spiders, his own sleep deprivation, and the statement he had just recorded caused him to react in a way he would definitely deny ever doing if asked.

Freaking out, he grabbed a book off the nearest shelf, and went to crush it. Once again like a curse, at this exact moment Martin entered the room and, seeing what Jon was about to do, grabbed the book from his hand, causing him to crash directly into the shelf he was aiming for, and allowing the spider time enough to scamper away as the shelf began to fall.

It was a horrible domino effect, and although it was entirely Martin’s fault for being so weirdly protective of all spiders, Jon was glad he was there to catch the shelf before it fell down completely, almost definitely injuring Jon and making a huge mess.

“Um.. Sorry.”

Jon stared up at him in disbelief. “Are you being serious? You really need to stop your obsession with protecting all the spiders around here.”

“Well they’re an important par-”

“An important part of the ecosystem, yes, yes I know, you’ve said exactly the same thing many, many times before.”

* * *

 Tim needed to find Martin to ask him about the statement he’d been researching, but he hadn’t been in the breakroom where he’d expected, so he figured he must have been convincing Jon to eat.

He’d made it to his office, and was about to knock when he heard Martin’s voice just around the corner, looked around, and did a complete double take.

A few feet down that row of shelves, Martin and Jon seemed to be talking about something, Jon with his back against the bookshelf and Martin with his arms up against it, their faces surprisingly close.

Tim was considering leaving, and coming back after… this was done, when Jon noticed him and turned.

“Tim? Do you need something? We’re kind of busy right now.”

Martin, who hadn't actually noticed him until Jon did seemed to actually realize the position Tim had caught them in, and quickly took his hands off the shelf, and moved back from Jon.

“Ah! Hey Tim! Did you, um, did you need something…?” The shelf they’d been leaning on started to wobble, and he moved to lean on it as Tim began to grin.

“Oh, well I was looking for you to ask you some questions I had about your research into statement 0160507, but now I see you’re a bit  _busy_.”

“You can have him, we’re done here, and I have work I need to do.” Jon pushed past Tim as Martin’s face slowly turned red, and headed down the hall.

“So...” Tim turned to look at Martin, who was still leaning on the shelf beside him, and continued to grin

“I- It’s not what it looked like!” Martin continued to redden as he talked.

“Oh _of course._ I’m sure it was nothing like any _unprofessional_ interpretation I might have come up with.”

“No seriously Tim, the shelf was just falling, and-”

‘It didn’t look like the shelf was falling when I looked in.”

“Yes, but-”

“Your secret’s safe with me Martin.” He winked and turned to leave. He’d ask Martin about the statement in a minute or two. Once he’d had enough time to calm down.


	2. Chapter 2

Basira and Martin were huddled at Basira’s desk, Martin having pulled his chair up a few minutes ago to start fretting about Jon, and Basira joining in once she realized he wasn’t going back to work. Melanie, sitting at her own desk, was trying her best to ignore them.

“When did he last eat?” Basira asked Martin in a hushed tone.

“Maybe yesterday? If he didn’t eat after work last night but knowing Jon I doubt it.”

“But he didn’t have lunch yesterday either...”

“Oh, you’re right...”

“God, who cares?” Melanie chimed in finally, looking irritated at her coworkers current choice in conversation topics “If he wants to starve himself, just let him. It’s not like he’d listen to any of us if we told him to eat anyway.”

“He might.” Martin responded, staring daggers at her. “And if none of us says anything we won’t know for sure will we?”

“Go and talk to him then. I doubt he’ll listen, but at least you two will stop whispering while I’m trying to work.”

“Alright. I will.” Martin replied, putting away the statement he’d been working on, and getting up from his chair.

Melanie gave a huff and turned back to her work.

“You shouldn’t be so rude to him.” Basira said, turning back to her own desk as well.

“Whatever. I just truly do not care about Jon’s eating habits. Don’t get why you do either.”

Basira sighed as Melanie continued to ignore her, and waited to see what kind of response Martin was going to get. She didn’t want to mention it, especially after Melanie had conveyed it so… politely, but she wasn’t expecting him to really make much of a difference either. She’d seen how Jon could get while working. He never  wanted to take a break and never thought to on his own and nothing you could say would change that. So she wasn’t surprised when she saw Martin exiting Jon’s office seeming to be alone, and she assumed he’d been rejected. She was, however, even more surprised when she saw Jon following him out, looking slightly irritated, but still complying.

“Look, we’ll be quick and then you can get back to work, okay? You’ll probably work better on a full stomach anyway.”

Jon gave a grunt of acknowledgment and, looking slightly exasperated, waved Martin forward, putting his coat on and waiting for him to lead the way.

“We’re, um going out, going to get some late lunch. So, I guess I’ll be out of your hair for about an hour or so Melanie.” he said, looking pointedly at Melanie as he did.

Melanie stared at the scene, silent and looking stunned, so Basira answered for the both of them.

“We’ll be fine alone, we’ll probably take our own lunch breaks soon anyway...?” she looked to Melanie, who nodded in agreement. “Yeah… Have fun.”

He nodded at her, and they both headed out.

Melanie turned to Basira, continuing to look shocked at this result that neither of them had expected.

“What did he say?”

“I guess he was just very persuasive,” Basira shrugged, “Maybe Jon just knew he wouldn’t stop asking, and gave in early to keep from dealing with that?”

“Maybe… I don’t think he’d have listened to you or me though...”

“Well, I guess Martin just knows how to convince him, huh?”

“Yeah… I always thought he didn’t like Martin much though. He always seems to be complaining about him.”

“Does he like _anyone_? Seems he just dislikes Martin the least."

“Yeah… Huh...”

“I mean, Martin sure seems to like _him_ the most.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious,” Melanie rolled her eyes, and turned back to her desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Co-creator credit for this chapter to my cat. :3 (My keyboard is now covered in fur, but she tried her best)


	3. Chapter 3

Jon was bored. He hadn’t left Georgie’s flat in over a week, only really reading statements and the few interesting seeming books Georgie had lying around the house to keep entertained. Georgie hadn’t been home much, busy with a project she was working on, so the only person he had to talk to was himself. Maybe the Admiral, but he doubted that that counted.

He communicated this boredom to Georgie that afternoon when she was finally home, and she rolled her eyes.

“Do you not have _anyone_ else to talk to?”

“Um, not really _._ I’ve been… busy with work for a while...”

“Uh huh, that sounds like you. No one from work? Just because you don’t work there anymore doesn't mean you can’t talk to them.”

“ _Well..._ ”

“No one?”

“I mean, there’s... Tim, but he hasn’t exactly been very… amicable recently. There’s- No, not Sasha anymore. And Basira is definitely a bad idea. Martin?”

“Well, first of all, I’m very concerned about the number of coworkers you ‘definitely can’t talk to’. I’m starting to think this employment dispute isn’t as strange as I’d first thought. Second of all, why don’t you call him?”

“Martin? No, I can’t.”

“So, another coworker you can’t speak with?”

“Well… less _can’t_ , more... would rather not.”

“Oh, so this one’s  _his_ fault, not yours.” She sat down on the sofa next to him, putting her feet up beside her and leaning on his shoulder. Her eyes glinted, and she grinned mischievously. “Tell me about it.”

Jon paused for a moment, taken off guard a bit, but settled back in after a moment, satisfied by the chance to at least have a conversation with somebody, regardless of the subject matter.

“Well, he’s one of my… coworkers, but he’s horribly incompetent at his job. His CV is… inaccurate, he’s awful at research, and he really has no qualifications for the job! And that’s only when he’s actually _trying_ to work. He’s continually avoiding his work and distracting _me_ from my _own_ work. Between bringing me tea constantly when he should be doing his job, trying to pull me away from my work to go out for lunch, and just, in general, trying to ‘help’ me, I’d swear he spends more time in my office then he does doing what he’s actually supposed to.”

“Oh my god.” Georgie began to shake from beside him on the sofa. Jon looked over to see what was wrong, but she seemed to be… laughing?

“What?” Jon said, frowning in confusion.

“Sounds to me like he’s got a thing for you.” she laughed again, “Jesus Jon, you haven’t noticed?”

“Wha- Martin? No. What?”

“Spending more time in your office than anywhere else? Trying to get _you_ to eat? Which, by the way, isn’t a bad thing, and the fact he’s putting up with your refusal to eat when you’re focusing is pretty compelling evidence to me.”

“He’s just being irritating. You’ve never even met him, how would you even be able to tell?”

“I know you well enough to figure out that he’s definitely not being as annoying as you’re making him out to be, and from that, and the rest of what you’ve said about all his doting on you, I’m pretty certain I’m right.” she grinned, a smug look on her face, “Oh my god, it is _so_ like you to hate someone for their obvious crush on you.”

Jon frowned at that.

“Hey, you don’t have to believe me, but I’m almost certain if you _did_ decide to talk to him, he wouldn’t complain.”

“Yes, well. I disagree.”

“Alright, ” she gave in, raising her hands in exasperated defeat, “but if I ever meet this guy, I’m bringing it up for sure.”

Jon turned bright red. “Don’t you dare.”

Georgie only smiled in response.

“Georgie...”

She winked. “No promises.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you paying attention might notice this technically happens before last chapter, but the next has Melanie & Basira in it again, so I wanted to break it up a bit. (Also I really wanted to write Georgie! Love her sm)


	4. Chapter 4

Martin exited Jon’s office, about ten minutes after he was called in, with the biggest grin on his face, and a slightly dazed look.

Melanie, Basira, and Tim all looked over, some of them subtler than others, to see if they could figure out what exactly Jon had wanted to talk to him about but, other than the fact that it probably wasn’t any sort of bad news, none of them could seem to guess.

Basira tried catching his attention as he walked past, but he didn’t seem to notice her at all, and walked straight past her, still in his own head, and left the room.

As soon as he was out of earshot, she leaned over to Melanie and whispered to her.

“You have any idea what Jon needed to say?”

“No clue,” she whispered back, “But I’m not exactly worried about getting the same news now.” 

Basira laughed at that, and Tim, noticing their whispered conversation, wheeled his chair over to join in.

“Wondering what they were talking about?” he asked, without waiting to be invited in.

“Yeah. I mean, it seems like it was something good.”

“Honestly, it could be literally anything, you know how Martin is around Jon.” Tim rolled his eyes and sneered as he talked.

“Yeah, he’s pretty smitten.” 

“Ha! You should have seen them before all this supernatural shit started happening. Jon has literally accused Martin of murder, and he’s  _ still  _ like this.”

“Wow.” Melanie stared down the hall Martin had just exited down. “That is...”

“Yeah. He’s been pining basically since they first met.”

“Well, we all know Martin's got an obvious crush.” Basira stated.

“Not obviously enough for Jon.” Melanie interjected.

“Maybe… but, what I mean is... Jon  _ is  _ always talking about him _ too _ .” 

“Well….” Tim looked around thoughtfully “It hasn’t exactly  _ always  _ seemed one hundred percent one-sided...”

Basira’s eyes widened, and she pushed closer to Tim “Tell us.” Melanie rolled her eyes at that, but still couldn’t hide the curiosity in her eyes.

Tim, enjoying the attention, leaned forward in his seat as he began to talk, “Well, either neither of them have any sense of personal space or something was up because it wasn’t a very uncommon experience to walk into a room and see the two of them much closer than they had any reason to be. Of course, Martin would almost always stop staring passionately into Jon’s eyes and try to act like nothing was happening, but honestly, all that tells me is that he knew what it looked like which only incriminates them more. Seriously, once I found them practically making out against a bookshelf in the archives!”

“Seriously?” Melanie turned in her chair, all semblance of nonchalance gone from her face.

“Okay, that sounds  _ pretty _ definite.”

“Eh, that was over a year ago. I have no idea what their deal is right now, and I really don’t care anymore.” He pushed back in his chair and grimaced “If there was something between the two of them I would hope it was over by now.”

“Well,” Melanie gestured the way Martin had left and shrugged “I have a feeling it’s not.”

Tim nodded, and a smile spread across his face. “ _ So _ … what do you think they  _ were _ doing in there?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little later then I wanted it to be, because I got pretty sick, like, right after posting the last chapter, but hopefully you still enjoyed.


	5. Chapter 5

Jon was tired. Yes, he’d only been out of the hospital for about a week now, but everything in the Institute was so… different, and it was exhausting. He hadn’t seen Basira for a few days, and Melanie _still_ hadn’t shown up since threatening him, despite the fact that he’d spent most of his time in the Institute. He hadn’t seen Martin _at all_ , and though he’d been warned he probably wouldn’t, he was still… wondering.

The other people in the Archives obviously weren’t going to be any help with that, so Jon decided to ask around, figure out at least a little bit of what happened while he was gone.

So he looked around for anyone who might know about the sort of things that were going on downstairs. A lot of them were surprised to see him around, but none of them seemed to have any insight into even the most mundane Archive news.

Finally, he decided to ask Rosie. He figured she’d probably have seen anyone coming in or going out. She wasn’t as surprised as most of the others had been to see him, considering she’d seen him arriving, and seen him around already that day. She was, however, surprised at _why_ he’d been around.

“Martin? You all don’t know where he is?”

“No? Does anyone?”

“No one up here has seen him around for quite a bit. We’d all assumed at least some of you down in the Archives knew what he was up to.”

“Maybe Basira does, but she isn’t telling me anything.”

“You haven’t asked him about it?”

“I haven’t even _seen_ him since before I woke up.”

She looked pretty shocked at that, and seemed to consider her words before speaking again.

“Not even at the hospital? He seemed to be spending quite a bit of time at the hospital. At least as far as I saw.”

“No. He’s been… he’s been busy. As far as I know he hasn’t been to the hospital in months.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” She said, putting a hand on his shoulder with a sympathetic look.

“Oh. Yes, well. I’m just trying to figure out what exactly happened while I wasn’t here.”

She sighed, and nodded at him. “I guess it must have been hard for him too. I’m sure if you just give him some time you two will be able to talk through this.”

“I guess?” He frowned “I don’t really know…”

“Oh, you’ll figure it out. You two are so sweet together, you shouldn’t let this destroy your relationship.”

“Our… Relationship?”

“Well I _know_ neither of you have really said anything about it…”

Jon, having suddenly realized what she meant by that, quickly shook his head “Oh no, no, no, no! We’re not together _.”_

“Really?” her eyes widened at that, and she leaned back in her chair “I thought...”

“No... Does everyone think that?”

“ _Well._ Not _everyone._ ”

“But more people then just you?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “No, nevermind, I’ve got more important things to be worried about at the moment.” He stood up, ready to leave. “Look, if you don’t know anything about Martin I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Like I said, no one’s seen him in ages.” She turned to go back to her work, but paused for a moment to turn back to him. “I do know one thing though. If you and Martin aren’t _actually_ dating, maybe you should start.”

She winked at him, and Jon groaned, ignoring her and leaving quickly.


	6. Chapter 6

The Institute was a lot harder to work in these days. It had always felt… off, but Jon had gotten used to that over time. With everyone else in the archives avoiding him and the Lonely’s presence feeling stronger and stronger every day however, the feeling had changed, and for the worse.

The archives themselves felt marginally better, so he made sure to stay there for as much of his time as possible.

That was _part_ of the reason he was down there at the moment. The other reason was his current research into the Lonely.

He was trying his best to compile as many statements as possible that seemed related in some way to the Lonely, especially if it involved people disappearing or the Lukas’. It was much more difficult then he’d expected, even with the suspicious ease in which he was able to determine where they were. The archives were large and because of their “friendship” with the Lukas family, statements about the Lonely weren’t always kept around.

As he was searching, Jon’s mind started to wander and he began to think about Peter Lukas, and whatever his plan might be. Involuntarily his thoughts then drifted to Martin. He tried to push those ones out, but began to feel a slight buzzing at the back of his head, and an image of Martin standing just outside the archives popped into his mind.

Quickly, he turned his head to the entrance, and sure enough, he could see the door beginning to open and Martin entering.

Jon hastily ducked down the nearest aisle, and pushed up against a shelf, listening to Martin’s footsteps as he walked closer. He could hear the steps pass him, and snuck out to go after him, weaving in and out of the shelves as he followed.

He could see Martin skimming through the boxes on the shelf in front of him, and hid quickly again as he grabbed a stack of papers from one and kept going. Jon moved fast, trying to figure out how to confront Martin without him disappearing again.

He figured the best thing to do was just try to figure out what exactly he was doing there first. Was this something to do with what he and Lukas were working on? Or maybe he was working on something alone?

Slightly distracted by his speculating, Jon had stopped paying attention to Martin, and suddenly Jon realized he had no idea where he had gone.

“Shit.”

He looked quickly around, and sighed. Dejected, he was about to give up on hiding and just hope Martin wouldn’t run away as soon as he realized Jon was there, when he remembered _how_ he’d even **known** Martin was there in the first place _._ Jon didn’t really know how to make it work, but he hoped the Eye wanted him to find Martin as well, and tried concentrating on the image of him he had in his mind. Once again, after a few moments of concentration, he felt a slight buzzing, the knowledge appeared in his head, and he turned towards the direction he **knew** he’d find Martin in.

Turning the next corner, Jon immediately crashed directly into Martin.

“Jon!?” he stumbled backwards into the bookcase, panicking, and scrambling to keep the statements he was holding from falling to the floor.

“Oh! Martin! I, um, I didn’t know you were here.”

“Right _..._ I’m sure you didn’t... Well I really can’t stay here for long… I- I need to take these to Peter” He nodded at the stack in his arms, and went to push past Jon.

“Martin.” He blocked the way with his arm and took a step forward before speaking again. “Don’t do this again. Just talk to me for a moment. _Please_.”

“I would, I just- I’m just busy right now.”

“ _Martin._ ”

“No, really!”

“Just tell me what’s going on.” He took his hand off the wall and placed it onto his arm. “I can _help_.”

Martin shrugged Jon’s arm off and once again tried to leave, but before he could Jon had grabbed his wrist. There was a moment’s pause before he turned back and sighed.

“Look, Jon. I have to go.” he covered Jon’s hand with his own, giving him a small, mirthless look as he spoke. “I have things I need to do with Pete-”

Before Martin could finish, Jon had let go of his wrist, hands moving quickly to his shirt, pulling him closer, and suddenly, Martin had dropped his papers, and they were kissing.

Martin stiffened for a moment, but almost immediately he softened into it and began to kiss back. It wasn’t a perfect kiss by any measure, messy and filled with desperation, but as Martin began to run his fingers through his hair Jon couldn’t find it in himself to care.

He sighed softly against Martin’s lips, moving his own hands up, to his hair, and Martin’s body once again went tense. He started, and pulled his face back as if he’d been burned, pushing Jon away as he tried to close the gap, and shaking his head slightly.

“Oh no. Oh no no no no. I-... Jon I can’t...”

Dazed, and slightly distracted by the disheveled state Martin’s hair was in, Jon took a second before letting go, and letting Martin’s words sink in.

“You _can’t_? Martin, you’re not doing this _again_?”

“Well, um… I just… Don’t… I don’t feel the same- the same way... A- about you...” He stared at the ground as he spoke, refusing to make eye contact.

“ _Martin_. I **know** that’s not true.”

“I- I just… I’m just...”

“Martin.” Jon took Martin’s hands from where they were playing with the seam of his shirt by his side. “Just let me help you. We can figure this out together.”

“I- ...Okay.” Martin nodded softly, and looked up slightly from his shoes.

“Maybe not right now though.” Jon mumbled. “I’m not certain how much of a coherent conversation I can hold with you looking like that.”

Martin’s face went bright red, and although he didn’t take his hands back, his eyes went straight back to his shoes. This time, however, Jon could see a small smile on his face.

“Well, I guess I owe Georgie five pounds.” He groaned. “Shouldn’t have taken that bet.”

Martin laughed, a quiet and wonderful sound that Jon had missed for longer then he’d realized.

“We could… Um... If you wanted we could try that again? Without the whole.” he waved his arms vaguely, “You know…”

Jon nodded “Yeah. We could… we could do that.”

It was slower this time, less anxiety behind it as Martin leaned in, but the kiss only got better. As they kissed, Jon found himself slowly moving back until his back was pressed against the shelf behind them, with Martin in front of him. His lips were soft and he tasted like mint, and Jon found himself unable to stop smiling through the kiss.


End file.
